The The fall of Anne Boleyn was followed by great changes. aspect of spiritual affairs was much altered: the six articles were carried in parliament. Latimer chose to resign his bishopric rather than to hold any preferment in a church which enforced such terms of communion, and retired into the country. He remained in this seclusion until obliged to visit London to obtain medical advice, in consequence of an injury he had sustained from the falling of a tree. He was discovered by the crafty and bigoted Gardiner, and imprisoned during the continuance of Henry's reign. The death of Henry, and the consequent accession of the lovely Edward VI. was the dawn of a bright and auspicious day for the reformed cause. Latimer was released from confinement, and was much admired and followed for the ardour and evangelical strain of his preaching, through the whole of this short reign. He could not be prevailed on to resume his episcopal functions, although much solicited, and at length, when it was found that his resolution was fixed, he took up his abode with Archbishop Cranmer at Lambeth. Soon after Mary ascended the throne, this eminent confessor was cited to appear before the council. He might have made his escape had he been so disposed, as opportunity was afforded him to leave the country; he did not consider it his duty to fly from the storm, and prepared with alacrity to obey the citation, and as he passed through Smithfield, he exclaimed, "This place has long groaned for me!" Archbishop Cranmer and Bishop Ridley were also committed to the Tower, which was so crowded with prisoners that the three prelates were confined in the same room. This was a most providential circumstance, as it afforded these holy men an opportunity of much conversation on the subjects in dispute between the reformers and the papists; and the three fellow-prisoners for Christ's sake searched the sacred volume together, and confirmed each other in the truths for which they were so soon to bear a martyr's testimony, and, by their mutual prayers, strengthened each other's faith and hope. They were soon after removed from the Tower to Oxford, and confined in the common prison, and underwent every kind of degradation, preparatory to a mock disputation, in which Latimer behaved with his usual intrepidity and simplicity, and refused to deliver any thing more than a free confession of his opinions. His mind had been long prepared for the worst that man could do unto him, and his regard for the great cause which he had espoused rendered him a cheerful sacrifice. Many months intervened between the sentence passed by his judge and the final catastrophe, during which time the three prelates remained in gaol, chiefly because the statutes under which they had been tried had been formally repealed. In the next year, 1555, new and more sanguinary laws were enacted in support of the Romish religion, and a commission was issued by Cardinal Pole, the pope's legate, to try Latimer and Ridley for heresy. Much pains were taken, during the second trial, to induce them to sign articles of subscription: this they steadfastly refused, and were delivered over to the secular arm, and condemned to the flames. They suffered on the 16th October, 1555. At the place of execution, having thrown off the old gown which was wrapped around him, Latimer appeared in a shroud prepared for the purpose, and, with his companion in tribulation, was fastened to the stake. When a burning faggot was placed at the feet of Bishop Ridley, |